I am a proud garden mama. My girl and I went out to pick some parsley for a new chicken hotdish recipe I was trying tonight. She kept saying "pickin' parsley, pickin' parsley" while we were out there, totally excited. Then we got back in the house and Daddy says to her "What have you got there?", and she says "CILANTRO!". I know, it's not what we were picking, but hey, I never even mentioned cilantro today and that's the word she remembered from who knows when the last time we picked herbs was, she's got so many new words! Plus, they kind of look the same, I can't blame her.
Sweet corn: A few weeks ago, we ate 6 smallish ears. They were pretty dang tasty. The rest are so tiny I'm not bothering to pick. The cornstalks are destined for my new compost bins that my handyman is supposed to be building ASAP. Hello? Handyman? Where are you? Dang it, if I just had a post-pounder-inner I could do it myself...if I was ambitious, which I'm generally not if I can help it.
Speaking of compost, I have a pile of cast away plants laying where the official compost bins will eventually be built, and much of the pile is culled nasturtiums. I had planted them in one of the raised potager beds at the base of a metal trellis and they disappointed me by being less twiny and more floppy than said trellis required. They were suffocating my strawberry plants that are around the base of the trellis, so they had to come out. They disagree and refuse to give up so are laying in the compost heap, blooming their heads off, and have been for going on two weeks. Seriously crazy.
The squash apparently resented the well-intentioned straw mulch treatment I gave them and rebelled by getting a nasty case of aphids. The plants are so yellow and sad looking that I have given up on them. I would till them under IF MY TILLER WOULD RUN (handyman?). Thanks Mom for sharing a zucchini and yummy yellow summer squash with us, I finally made bread (and froze some for more bread or zucchini chocolate cake this winter).
There are actually a few pumpkins surviving out there, I know because I went out to diligently water them yesterday, weeds and all, as I am determined to have a homegrown Halloween.
After watering the pumpkins, I moved on to water our new apple tree out in the Back 40, and a garter snake scared the bejeesus out of the Girl and I and forced us to abort all gardening missions for the day and retreat to the house since we had reached our maximum daily heebie-jeebie level. It was hiding in the straw mulch around the apple tree, a McIntosh, purchased from my Auntie Linda, apple baroness extraordinaire (thanks also for the picked apples Linda, we made applesauce and froze some for crisp too). Maybe she put the snake in the tree pot to come home with us? Mean! : ) Either that, or the straw we got came with aphids and snakes, cripes! I need to get a more reputable straw guy.
We are eating Roma and Cherry tomatoes like mad. The Girl likes to pick and eat cherry ones every day, right off the plant. She carries them around the yard with her leaving a trail of juice and seeds. I found dried up seeds stuck to the slide on her swingset today. I picked my first slicer yesterday, although it wasn't totally ripe and is now sitting in the kitchen windowsill to hopefully finish turning red and yummy. I had to pick it because it was so heavy it was breaking and pinching off the vine it was on. The Girl says "It's HUGE!"
We've also had two blackish colored bell peppers so far (from the Carnival mix) and two jalapenos I used for fresh salsa snacks. Plenty more out there ripening soon.
Lots of onions still out there. They are not big but whenever I need one for a recipe I just go out and grab a few little ones, I love them. Peanut loves eating the tops of them, although I keep telling her that onions are bad for dogs. Then she tells me beer is bad for me. Then I say "You can't talk, you're a dog" and I have another beer. Then Peanut says "Whatever".
Sweet corn: A few weeks ago, we ate 6 smallish ears. They were pretty dang tasty. The rest are so tiny I'm not bothering to pick. The cornstalks are destined for my new compost bins that my handyman is supposed to be building ASAP. Hello? Handyman? Where are you? Dang it, if I just had a post-pounder-inner I could do it myself...if I was ambitious, which I'm generally not if I can help it.
Speaking of compost, I have a pile of cast away plants laying where the official compost bins will eventually be built, and much of the pile is culled nasturtiums. I had planted them in one of the raised potager beds at the base of a metal trellis and they disappointed me by being less twiny and more floppy than said trellis required. They were suffocating my strawberry plants that are around the base of the trellis, so they had to come out. They disagree and refuse to give up so are laying in the compost heap, blooming their heads off, and have been for going on two weeks. Seriously crazy.
The squash apparently resented the well-intentioned straw mulch treatment I gave them and rebelled by getting a nasty case of aphids. The plants are so yellow and sad looking that I have given up on them. I would till them under IF MY TILLER WOULD RUN (handyman?). Thanks Mom for sharing a zucchini and yummy yellow summer squash with us, I finally made bread (and froze some for more bread or zucchini chocolate cake this winter).
There are actually a few pumpkins surviving out there, I know because I went out to diligently water them yesterday, weeds and all, as I am determined to have a homegrown Halloween.
After watering the pumpkins, I moved on to water our new apple tree out in the Back 40, and a garter snake scared the bejeesus out of the Girl and I and forced us to abort all gardening missions for the day and retreat to the house since we had reached our maximum daily heebie-jeebie level. It was hiding in the straw mulch around the apple tree, a McIntosh, purchased from my Auntie Linda, apple baroness extraordinaire (thanks also for the picked apples Linda, we made applesauce and froze some for crisp too). Maybe she put the snake in the tree pot to come home with us? Mean! : ) Either that, or the straw we got came with aphids and snakes, cripes! I need to get a more reputable straw guy.
We are eating Roma and Cherry tomatoes like mad. The Girl likes to pick and eat cherry ones every day, right off the plant. She carries them around the yard with her leaving a trail of juice and seeds. I found dried up seeds stuck to the slide on her swingset today. I picked my first slicer yesterday, although it wasn't totally ripe and is now sitting in the kitchen windowsill to hopefully finish turning red and yummy. I had to pick it because it was so heavy it was breaking and pinching off the vine it was on. The Girl says "It's HUGE!"
We've also had two blackish colored bell peppers so far (from the Carnival mix) and two jalapenos I used for fresh salsa snacks. Plenty more out there ripening soon.
Lots of onions still out there. They are not big but whenever I need one for a recipe I just go out and grab a few little ones, I love them. Peanut loves eating the tops of them, although I keep telling her that onions are bad for dogs. Then she tells me beer is bad for me. Then I say "You can't talk, you're a dog" and I have another beer. Then Peanut says "Whatever".
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